Green room list

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chad Ford from Insider has the list of invites to the green room for draft
night. There are a couple of surprises: Brian Cook and Zarko Cabarkapa. They
really could throw a wrench into things if they go much earlier than
expected.

The surprise snub? Luke Ridnour. Check out his agent's lame attempt at spin
control. He's desperately trying to avoid the perception that Ridnour is
sliding. But there's also no Reece Gaines. Or Dwyane Wade, although that
must be a mistake on Ford's part. 

The other name notable by its absence? Marcus Banks. If he had a promise,
you'd think he might be included in the green room festivities. 

Mark

Want a pretty good sign of who will be in the lottery come draft night? 
Look no further than the NBA's exclusive "Green Room" invitation list. Each
year the NBA selects 12 to 15 players to travel to the draft and sit in a
special player's only room. When a player's name is called on draft night,
he gets to stroll to the podium, put on his new team's hat and shake David
Stern's hand. 
The invitation list is complied from a poll of NBA GMs on who they think
will be drafted in the lottery. It's usually a great barometer of who will
likely be selected in or around the lottery. 
Each year there are a few surprising admissions and a snub or two. 
This year the big surprises are invites to Illinois' Brian Cook
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18450>  and
Serbian forward Zarko Cabarkapa
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18463> . 
Four other international players -- Darko Milicic
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18423> ,
Maciej Lampe
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18461> ,
Mickael Pietrus
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18464>  and
Pavel Podkolzine
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18544>  --
were also invited to the room. 
All of the other usual suspects will be invited: LeBron James
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18425> ,
Carmelo Anthony
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18433> ,
Chris Bosh
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18511> ,
T.J. Ford
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18444> ,
Chris Kaman
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18447> ,
Kirk Hinrich
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18442> ,
Mike Sweetney and Nick Collison
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18443> . 
Cook, who many felt could slip out of the first round, has been playing to
rave reviews at workouts. Several NBA sources now claim he could go anywhere
from 10 to 19 in the draft. Cabarkapa is rumored to have a promise by the
Suns at No. 17. But one league source told Insider he could end up going
even higher. 
One surprising omission was Oregon's Luke Ridnour
<http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/d03/tracker/player?playerId=18434> .
However, Ridnour's agent, Lon Babby, told Insider he asked the NBA not to
put Ridnour on the list. Ridnour had a pulled muscle and missed several
workouts. Babby felt Ridnour needed to spend every day, including draft day,
working out.